Frosting: Art of Cookie Decorating!

Ladies and gentlemen, I think I have found a new hobby!  Last night was my very first time decorating and frosting sugar cookies and guess what?  IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!  It takes up a lot of time and effort but the process of mixing ingredients, cutting the cookies individually from a template, making the frosting, and decorating is rewarding after seeing it all come together!  Only disappointment is how disgusting the frosting tastes.  Might need to work on that a bit...

Honestly, I think things are much more fun when they are spontaneous and unplanned.  Cookie decorating didn't come across our minds until about 8 or 9 in the evening.  Although it was fairly late, we decided to try a new chicken recipe AND bake/decorate sugar cookies.  I suggested postponing it since it was too late, but I'm happier that we didn't.  Being able to make memories is important to me and this is something that I will never ever forget.  Thanks Lisa!

And the results are in!

What do you think?  Cute right?

<3  Lina Chen

Infamous Sprinkles Cupcakes!

 

For those of you who haven't heard of Sprinkles Cupcakes, the original gourmet cupcake bakery, you are missing out!  But don't worry, I actually didn't know anything about it until a few months ago after my lovely birthday lunch with Lisa at the Tea Rose Garden.  We were in the car driving around Pasadena when all of a sudden Lisa suggests going to Sprinkles Cupcakes.  She was surprised I've never heard of it and off we

 went to find a Sprinkles location!  Sadly, we couldn't find the it and decided we'll save our trip to there another day.

 

I'm actually glad we didn't go because the following week, Erica (best friend) surprised me with a gift certificate to Sprinkles as a birthday gift!  It's as if she read my mind!  Thanks Erica if you are reading this!  What's really freaky is that I have never once mentioned Sprinkles to her AND that was the second time I've ever heard anyone talk about this place in one week!  Talk about a coincidence, right?

For weeks on end I've been wanting to try Sprinkles and I was finally able to this past weekend by accident!  We were roaming around The Grove, which by the way is a great place to go to over on the weekends, and we came across the mini bakery that was hidden between a restaurant and a parking garage!

 

The cupcakes alone are $3.50 each so be prepared to break your piggy bank for a dozen of these babies!  Just kidding, but I have to admit, they're pretty expensive cupcakes!  I think it's worth it if you get the right flavors.  For example, we ended up getting the Banana, Strawberry, Coconut, and their Irish cupcake.  I liked all of them except for their seasonal Irish cupcake--the least moist cupcake and you can barely taste the Bailey's.  I think my absolute favorite would have to be the Banana because it was evenly balanced.  The strawberry was delicious except for the fact that the sweetness over-empowered after the third bite.  Coconut is great too but the Banana beat them all!

Can't wait to go back to Sprinkles again!

<3 Lina Chen

189 The Grove Dr.,  Los Angeles, CA 90036

323.931.4498.   http://www.sprinkles.com

Ojiya Udon

Just last night I had the chance to catch up with Ruby's, my boyfriend's cousin, post-marriage life.  You can read about her wedding here if you are interested in reading my opinion about her wedding!

Originally she had recommended me to go to a Japanese curry place in Rowland Heights but after catching a nasty bug, I wasn't feeling up for it.  Instead I had asked her if she wouldn't mind getting some Pho or sushi.  We went with the latter.

I was all up for sushi until I looked at the menu and realized perhaps today isn't a good day to eat something raw while being sick.  There was no use in changing locations since this place was popular.

We both sat down and after looking over the menu, Ruby suggested me to get something warm and soothing for my sore throat; I'm glad that I did.  I ordered the Nabeyaki Udon.  At first I was hesitant to even order the dish since to me, udon is so-so, but it was much needed.    The soup was a bit more on the saltier side, but what do you expect from a soy sauce based broth.  The noodles were squishy and slurpy--even better!  Not sure why but the fatter the noodles, the more slurping sound I like to make, but I made sure I didn't make too much sound.

I did get a chance to try a piece of Ruby's spicy tuna and it was remarkable.  Very fresh and it was spicy enough not to burn the back of my throat.  I think overall, I would go here for the sushi more-so than I would for the udon, but like I said, udon isn't "my" thing. 

I must apologize for the poor quality of the image above.  I had forgotten my camera and my camera phone quality doesn't truly depict the delightful dessert we had last night: the black sesame cream puff.  This cream puff was nice and cold in the middle as if there was ice cream, but not ice cream.  So every bite you take, there is a sense of tingling feeling of coldness that runs from your gums all the way to the back of your tongue.  It was goooooood.  Not too sweet, but tasty enough to just call it good for the evening.

I would recommend this place to those who are around the Chino Hills area.  It didn't necessarily leave a memorable feeling or a place I'd highly recommend, but if you need your sushi fix, then go for it.

<3  Lina Chen

 4183 Chino Hills Pkwy, Chino Hills, CA 91709

909.606.8638.  www.ojiyausa.com